Ridiculous feature requests

[Dani]

I don't do any consulting, but for those of you who do, what's the most ridiculous feature request you've ever gotten from a client? Something tells me you all have a bunch.

[rproffitt]

If they are paying, I don't call them that. But hey how about?

"For each value input, present the OK and Cancel box."

Me: OK.

Client after user testing: Can you remove all the confirmation boxes?

Me: OK.

[Reverend Jim]

It's amazing, but I don't recall, in 31 years, getting an unreasonable request from a client. Some requests needed tweaking, but none were unreasonable. My boss, however, requested that I stop doing anything from a command shell because he wasn't comfortable with it.

[SCBWV]

In my limited time writing software for sale, it was my experience that users often asked for something that enhanced the program. What did surprise me is different ways people want to use the interface - some more keyboard oriented, more mouse. Different levels of expertise often had different expectations of how things should work. I found it fascinating watching people use the program. It taught me the importance of interface design and error protection.

[VMP Nig.]

The funniest thing i have heard from a client is 'i just paid for advertisement, why have i not sold anything since?' i was like sold or gotten calls and chats?

[pritaeas]

The weirdest I can remember is a client who delivered a custom made font to me to use in his desktop application. When he got the first version containing this font, he called angrily: "Why are the 6 and the 9 aligned so ugly? They must be moved to fit the other letters." When I responded that he should ask to let his provider change the font, he kind of exploded, stating he would not again pay $1000 for a new font. In the end it costed him almost a week development work because we had to circumvent the issue programmatically... roughly $4000. Apparantly that was paid from another budget.